MANILA, Philippines — The online world is but a reflection of everything that happens in the real, offline world.

Almost all the good that people do to their fellowmen can be found online too. Philanthropy has never had a friend as good as the Internet. The Web’s multiplying effect can empower the common online people like nothing else has done in history.

Raising money, finding missing people, securing help for the destitute, all these noble undertakings have become easier to accomplish, thanks to the online communities.

Unfortunately, the evil that men do has also found an equally comfortable place on the Web.

Character assassination, scams, child pornography, you name it, it’s there lurking or blatantly making its presence felt online. Heck, enough handouts exist online for making a nuclear bomb or blowing crowds of people into kingdom come.

The culture of death, as some would call it, has also found a home online. Hatred and disregard for human dignity are also there.

It is not surprising then that the world’s warring populations would bring their conflicts online. Recent media reports have made this plain enough to see.

Saudi Hackers vs. Israeli Crackers

A few weeks ago, a group of Saudi hackers who called themselves the Group-XP claimed to have gained access to personal information of almost half a million Israeli consumers’ credit cards. The information included credit card details, names, security codes, addresses, and mobile and home phone numbers.

Israeli credit card companies promptly tried to mollify their consumers by downplaying the alleged Saudi hacker group’s claims.

They also identified and blocked the compromised credit cards promptly.

Not long after, a group of Israeli hackers claimed they have attacked several Iranian Web sites. Earlier, the low-level cyberwar saw several Israeli Web sites being taken offline by alleged Arab hacker groups.

The Israeli group, calling itself the Israel defense Force Team, claimed responsibility for the cyberattacks against the Iranian ministry of health’s Web site and several other sites.

European Parliament’s Web Site vs. Hackers

Last week, hackers also tried penetrating the Web site of the European parliament. The reported attack came a day after the signing of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Tokyo, Japan. The international trade agreement seeks to establish international standards for intellectual property protection.

Internet activists see the trade agreement as a move to limit Internet freedoms worldwide. Hence, the cyberattack came, some observers assert.

The idea of using the Internet as a security weapon or as a means of disrupting the ability of an enemy state to conduct its affairs has been around for quite some time now.

While this corner would take this cyber-warfare anytime of the day over a real-world, real-life confrontation that could possibly conflagrate into an actual shooting war, it pains to see how humans could transform something as wonderful as the Internet into a means of destroying each other.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.